Formula 1: Concerning new Lewis Hamilton ‘low’ isn’t what you think

While Jeddah proved disastrous for Lewis Hamilton, at least he was able to score a point. The same can’t be said for him during Sunday’s Formula 1 race in Imola.

When Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in 10th place to wrap up a disastrous second weekend of the 2022 Formula 1 season in Jeddah, he had to ask his Mercedes team if there was even a point for that position. Fortunately, there was one point awarded for his efforts in the race after he had qualified in a dreadful 16th.

Hamilton, the seven-time champion who is used to being on the podium, if not winning, on a regular basis, has struggled this year in a Mercedes W13 that not only doesn’t seem to fit his driving style, but it doesn’t seem to be capable of running higher than fifth or sixth place on a good day, with all other things being equal.

The 103-time Grand Prix winner has, however, been able to capitalize on circumstances and bring home finishes of third and fourth place this season, despite trailing new teammate George Russell in the driver standings.

However, Hamilton nearly hit a new low this past weekend in Imola — and, quite frankly, he probably should have.

While there is a point for 10th place, there are no points awarded for 13th — or 11th or 12th for that matter. Hamilton also failed to score any points in the sprint qualifying race, so he ended up leaving the weekend with zero points.

It marked the first time he had finished a race and not scored any points since he finished in 15th place in Baku last year. But that only happened after a mistake on a late standing restart, when he appeared poised to take the lead from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

That restart was brought on by a red flag stemming a tire blowout on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull while Verstappen led the race, so Hamilton was effectively poised for a third place finish.

Prior to that, he hadn’t finished a race without scoring any points since his 12th place finish in Barcelona back in 2013.

But even then, he had started the race on the front row. This past weekend, he only qualified in 13th for the sprint race and claimed a 14th place grid spot for the Grand Prix with his sprint race result.

However, that’s not the craziest part of it.

Hamilton was never a contender in Sunday’s race, and a poor pit stop for slick tires didn’t help, once conditions allowed for teams to ditch the intermediate compound.

After that, he ran 14th for much of the race, unable to get around the 13th place AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. Only at the end did he sneak into 13th with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon dropped several positions down the order.

Ocon’s teammate, Fernando Alonso, had earlier been forced to retire with significant sidepod damage, stemming from the opening lap incident which involved McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr., and Haas’ Mick Schumacher.

Had it not been for Ocon losing spots late, Hamilton would have finished behind at least one driver from every single team on the grid.

In a non-retirement, that hasn’t happened since 2009 at the Nurburgring, when he finished in 18th place. Even then, he had qualified in fifth.

And let’s not forget the fact that Russell finished Sunday’s race in fourth place, nine positions ahead of Hamilton, to score 12 points for team. He had qualified in 11th for the sprint race and finished there, so he gained seven spots throughout Sunday’s race to open up a 21-point lead on his teammate in the driver standings (49-28).

Despite the struggles of the Silver Arrows, Russell has yet to finish lower than fifth place in his first season with the team.

The next race on the 2022 Formula 1 schedule is the first-ever Miami Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Miami International Autodrome beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 8.